Analogue: Three Weeks
by Cloud802
Summary: I had three weeks. Three weeks to get to the Mugungwha, find out what happened, and get back to Earth. Turns out this job ended up being a lot more complicated than that. -A re-imagining of Analogue: A Hate Story and Hate Plus-
1. Chapter 1

**Prologue:**

Two years. It had been two years since my wife died.

I leaned over the bar, rubbing my eyes in some vain attempt to make my current headache go away. I wasn't an alcoholic by any means, but every once in a while I liked to get piss drunk in a corner bar near my apartment. While everyone was out gallivanting with their friends I was stuck in this tiny place, getting wasted and keeping an ear open for interesting conversations to amuse myself with. You would think that in a world of sentient computers and cures for various forms of cancer that there would be a reliable way to alleviate a crappy job market. Sadly, that's not how things work, even in the 4000s.

Jim, the gruff old bartender, smirked at my obviously annoyed expression, "I think you're the only person in the neighborhood who actually comes here just to drink."

I rolled my eyes, "Isn't that what bars are for?"

"That's probably the smartest question I've ever heard anybody ask. You know what they come here for now?"

"What?"

He leaned over the bar, closer to me, still with that smirk of his. Then he raised his hand and pointed to the corner of the bar by the entrance. The darkest corner.

Well, dark except for the flickering bluish light coming from the computer screens attached to the wall. On the screens were what looked like attractive women. From what I could tell they were laughing, flirting, and in general having a good time. Around the monitors a small group of men had accumulated. I couldn't help but shake my head at the whole thing. It was like watching a bunch of teenage boys fawning over cheerleaders.

"Get back to me when they can pilot a cruiser without the assistance of a human."

"They're working on it," he said softly, letting out a low chuckle when my expression darkened.

"I don't see the appeal."

"In what? AIs or relationships in general?"

"..."

"Right, I'm going to take the silence as you needing to be cut off for the night. Finish your last drink. You can stick around and shoot the shit with me, but no more drinks."

"Bastard."

"Heh, if I wasn't a bastard you would be a full on alcoholic and not just someone who really likes the feeling of being drunk."

With those parting words he retreated and went to the only other person sitting at the bar. The guy just walked in, but I got a funny feeling from him. He wore a sleek suit and thin rimmed glasses. Looked like a business man who just got off work. I did as Jim instructed and downed my last glass of vodka in one swift stroke. I wiped my mouth with the back of my hand and sighed when I felt the fuzz underneath it. I needed a damn shave, but I couldn't exactly buy anything after that little trip to the bar until my next pay check. The man looked at me and raised an eyebrow. After he gave his order to Jim he stood from the stool and made his way over to me. I could tell he wanted to talk to me and me alone, but I wasn't sure what about.

"Kyle Briggs, right?"

He plopped his well dressed butt right onto the stool next to mine, and I couldn't help but sneer. "Do I know you?"

"No, but I know you. Hard to recognize you without a clean hair cut and a lab coat on."

"Tch, those days are long gone. What do you want?"

"My name is Michael Harris. I just got done with an interesting day at work."

"That has nothing to do with me. I don't know why you would bring it up."

He laughed and rubbed his chin with his right hand, then leaned forward a bit. "Don't you miss working with AI constructs?"

"Not really."

"I work with Thalium Incorporated. Recently we've been having some trouble."

"Yeah, heard your CEO got caught in some affair." I tried to take another swig from my glass, then grumbled in embarrassment when I realized it was empty. Big Shot didn't say anything though. Didn't even crack a smile. "I didn't know there were people in that field who still took me seriously after what happened."

"Your wife?"

"Mmm."

"Look, the past year things have been... different. It's not such an uncommon thing anymore. In fact, Thalium is actually working on shells for AI constructs. They'll be ready for the local populace in a weeks time."

"Fixing the future doesn't change the past."

"True, but moving forward can help in that regard."

I could tell he was getting at something, but I wasn't quite sure what. Then it hit me like a freight train.

"Are you trying to offer me a job?"

"Your company went bankrupt. They couldn't even take you back to apologize to you if they wanted."

"I don't want them to apologize. I want them to rot in prison."

"Right, the red tape from such a case would prevent that. Alright, listen. You take this job and I can get you a position just like your old one with twice the pay and benefits. You'll be set for life. I can even help you track down your wife's killers."

I turned my gaze to him and frowned, "What job is worth that much?"

He did the strangest thing, then. He looked around the bar as if he was scoping it out for any uninvited eavesdroppers. He let out a sigh and checked his watch with a frown, then looked back up at me. "What if I told you that we found the Mugunghwa?"

It felt like all the air had been sucked out of my lungs. The walls of the bar began to close in around me, and the sounds of laughter by the computer monitors became twice as loud. I felt like someone shoved my head into a vice grip and started cranking the handle, only stopping just before my skull cracked. "You're fucking with me." It was the only thing I could say. His look, however, told a different story. His eyes were dead serious, and his lips were almost pursing.

"Right now it's by Antares B, just drifting out there. We have to send someone as soon as possible. There are no delays with this, we're actually doing the paperwork after the launch. If we give it another month... who knows where it's going to end up?"

"I'm surprised it hasn't slipped into the ass crack of a black hole."

"So are we. This is one-hundred percent luck. A ship from the twenty-fourth century popping up on an interstellar scanner like this? The Mugunghwa is one of thirteen ships that never made it to the colony it was supposed to inhabit, and we want to know why. Do you know what a museum would pay for one log file from the ship?"

"So why me? Wouldn't one of the pros in your company be better suited to this job?"

"That's what worries me, and why my day at work didn't go so well."

"What's happening?"

"Well... to put it simply there is a mole within the company. The technological race is never ending, especially now that space seems a lot smaller than it used to be. Could you imagine the chaos if every professor or investor on Wallstreet was out looking for the Mugunghwa? The logs would be scattered to the four winds. Some would be sold on the black market, others would be put into the hands of collectors. The information, _all_ of the information in its entirety, would be impossible to obtain. I need someone who isn't involved with the company, but is passionate enough about the work we do to get it done."

"So you're doing this out of some sense of obligation to history? How admirable."

"Not just for history. For science, for personal curiosity. I want this information to be at everyone's finger tips. Those who do not learn from history..."

"Are doomed to repeat it. I know the quote, Michael."

"So, will you do the job?"

"How much are you paying me?"

"For the job itself? Eighty-thousand credits, and it was tough to get that number big. I would have offered you more, but I'm cutting corners as it is."

"That's still a big chunk of change. Consider the Mugunghwa files found."

"Great. I'm going to need you to show up at Thalium tomorrow at eleven AM sharp. Do you have a GPS?"

"Yeah, but my car's regulator is busted. I'll take a taxi."

"Good. Then we have a deal." He held out his hand, a smile on his face.

I shook it.

Anything to get out of that dead end retail store I was working at.

**Analogue: Three Weeks**

**Book One: *Mute**

**Chapter One: Deep Space Detective**

The Thalium building was every bit as extravagant as I expected. The sheen of the windows reflected the sun perfectly, and it was taller than any other sky scraper on the street. Honestly, it was a bit overwhelming, especially since I was dressed in jeans and a shirt, and I still hadn't shaved. The street it was on was busy, that was for sure. People bustled to and fro, shoving past each other without even giving a glance and only mildly apologizing when they bumped shoulders. The street itself was packed with cars, and the low hum of the gravitational dampeners that caused them to float drowned out the many footsteps.

I took a deep breath to steady myself and stepped towards the entrance to the building, which was also made of glass. I could only imagine what would happen if someone were to throw a rock in that place.

"Welcome to Thalium, my name is *Leyla, I'll be your guide today."

I almost jumped out of my skin when a small floating screen with a formally dressed lady appeared in my field of vision.

She continued unperturbed, "Here at Thalium we take pride in our work on AI constructs and technological advances for the next age. How can I help you today Mr. Briggs?"

"H... how do you know my name?"

"My monitor is equipped with an ID scanning system. It makes it a bit easier not having to go through introductions with everyone I talk to... unless they don't have their driver's licence on them, then I have to ask their name."

"I'm here for a job... I think."

*Leyla blinked, and then frowned. Then she sighed and brought a hand to her face to cover her cheeks. For a moment the monitor shook, as if it were embarrassed. "I'm sorry, sir. My processes have been completely swamped today. This past week has been nothing but disaster after disaster. I completely forgot you were coming."

"Disaster?"

She rolled her eyes and sighed, "Well, if you ask me the higher ups really need to get it together. I don't know what they think it will accomplish selling off stock like they are, but Mr. Thalium is..." before she continued she brought a hand to her mouth, "Dammit I am such a gossip."

"Sorry, forget I asked anything. Now, about that job?"

She sighed and straightened herself out, "Right this way please." The monitor turned and started floating towards a set of stairs leading up to the next floor. I decided it would be wise to follow *Leyla, as getting lost my first day on the job wasn't exactly a desirable thing. There weren't any cubicles down here, just fancy offices. I could only assume that the working floors were pretty much everything above the first and second. After reaching the second floor I noticed that the floor was made from a dark marble.

Fancy stuff.

She took a left and entered a small hallway to the right after floating for a few feet. After passing several rooms and people giving me strange looks we came to a stop inside what seemed to be a room for meetings. The door was already opened, so we waltzed right in. *Leyla floated to the side and I stepped the rest of the way into the room. Around a large wooden table sat four men dressed as sharply as the last. One of them was Michael. He nodded at me and smiled, "Thank you for bringing Mr. Briggs here *Leyla."

"No problem, is there anything else?"

"No, that'll be all, and remember you get off work early today."

She frowned, "I'll remember." The monitor left the room, but I swore I could hear *Leyla grumbling under her breath the entire time.

"Welcome Mr. Briggs," said Michael, still with that smile, "Sit down, let's talk business."

-**_Day 3_**-

I snapped awake at the sound of a loud and drawn out beep. I looked around myself in panic and rubbed my eyes, trying to wake up as quickly as I could so I could identify just what the damn problem was.

_"Warning, warning. Collision detected. Risk of hull breach."_

With that one sentence I was more awake than I ever had been in my life.

"Hull breach."

My heart jumped into my throat. A small ship like this... I would be dead within minutes if even a tiny hole were to be made in the hull. A small red light on the console was flashing, and the computer screen showing the ship's status was giving out all sorts of warning signals.

_"Attempting power compensation. Disabling short range communications. Disabling backup thrusters. Disabling small tractor beam. Power compensation reached. Shields restored. Hull at ninety-five percent capacity. Avoid further collisions."_

As suddenly as they had started, the blaring alarms went quiet. I took a deep breath and slouched in the pilot seat. This ship was about the size of the bar I used to visit. Enough room for a warp core, the computers, and storage space for one person on a short space trip.

It wasn't meant to sustain anything heavy duty.

I had asked them to give me something slightly better for the mission, but Michael had ensured me that everything would be fine. I decided to agree.

Thanks to whatever decided to hit the ship I was having second thoughts.

I rubbed my eyes again to get rid of the remaining grogginess, and when I opened them back up I saw something that made my jaw drop. Not but a quarter mile in front of me was what appeared to be a large, derelict spaceship. The Mugunghwa. I leaned forward, and I couldn't help but smile.

_"Target within range. Analyzing..."_

I couldn't believe it. Until I had seen it there had always been a small part of me doubting.

_"Two useable docking points detected. Recalculating auto pilot."_

I couldn't help but feel slightly out of my element. This was only my second time in space, and the last time I went with an assorted crew of twenty people. Being out there by myself like that... it felt lonely. More than that, though, it felt strange. As my ship approached the docking bay of the Mugunghwa I couldn't help getting this feeling of dread. There was just something about its large light grey frame that felt oppressive to me. I hadn't felt like that since the day my wife died.

All around my ship there were bits and scraps of metal. I could only assume they had come from the vessel in front of me now.

It was obvious one of those pieces had been what hit me. Hopefully luck would be kinder on the return trip.

"Something happened here," I muttered to myself.

It was pretty obvious at that point.

Michael told me that the Mugunghwa departed on its journey in the year of 2390. It was part of a rampant colonization project when our world became over populated. Even with global warming turning out to be pseudo-science there was still the issue of too many people in one place. We needed to build outwards, expand and explore the stars. Find, or even create, other worlds like Earth.

One of the ships that didn't make it was right in front of me, and I was about to board it.

As the Mugunghwa drew closer and closer I could make out a bay with a docking shield. My ship tucked itself neatly into the bay and landed automatically. I let out a breath of air I didn't even know I was holding.

_"Error. No oxygen in surrounding area."_

Well, that was to be expected, the ship had been derelict for about two thousand years now. The small dock was pitch black as well, not a single light to be seen aside from that coming from my own ship. I stood from the pilot's seat and stretched my back with a yawn. It had been a long trip. I walked to the rear of the small craft, where there were two doors. The one on the left lead to the mechanical room, and the one on the right was storage. I opened storage, and under all the shelves of food was a small attache case.

I took the case and closed the door, returning to my seat. Opening it revealed a small laptop. I took it out and set the case on the floor as I opened the computer. It booted up within seconds.

If the network wasn't online I would be shit out of luck, and Thalium would have to call in a physical retrieval of the ship.

Luckily that wasn't the case, and I managed to connect to the ship.

I reached down to the still open case by my feet and pulled out a small USB cable. When I connected it to the console on my ship and the laptop, the screen in the center of the console lit up. Luckily there were no warnings or alarms that time. Instead there was a single line of text.

_Opening wireless connection to nearest override terminal..._

_..._

_..._

_..._

_Connection established. Warning, override capabilities limited. Root password unobtained._

Well, that wasn't very convenient.

The screen on my computer went black, and when it lit up again, it was no longer showing the contents of my own laptop. A black screen with a cluster of command lines popped up, but it was all in Korean.

"Activate translation protocol, Korean."

_"Translation protocol enabled. Updating."_

My computer went blank again, and a moment later the same command screen showed up.

'keOS/Amie 8.11 Starship Mugunghwa internal computer Mon Jan 1 00:00:00 1970'

That was odd. Something messed up the dating system on the computer.

'Notice: This system is property of the Unified Korean Space Probe Agency. Access by individuals not affiliated with the UKSPA or a successor organization is a felony under the UKSPA Act of 2381.'

"Computer, are there any AI's in the system?"

_"Two Artificial constructs detected. Registered security officer *Mute detected. Unknown AI detected."_

I raised an eyebrow. Unknown AI? That was all sorts of curious.

"Activate the unknown AI."

_"Activating."_

When my computer flashed again, it was instead with a white screen. The default backdrop for an AI. After another moment of waiting a girl popped up. She looked about my age, mid twenties. She had long dark hair and a pair of glasses on her nose. From what I could see it looked like she was wearing a black schoolgirl uniform, only there was a UKSPA logo on the shoulders. Some sort of odd uniform policy? Maybe they had changed their uniforms while they were living in space.

The second she saw me her eyes widened and she smiled like a child.

"An nyoung ha seh yo!"

"I can't understand you."

"I'm so sorry! Korean is my default language system. Luckily the Mugunghwa's still equipped with language parsing software. It hasn't been updated in a while but it should do the trick. It's been so long since I've seen anyone. Hello! What's your name? What are you doing here?"

"Slow down. One question at a time. My name is Kyle Briggs. I'm here to find out what happened to the Mugunghwa."

"Oh." Her gaze fell.

"Something wrong? You're a ship AI, you should know."

"Um... I'm the record keeper here, so I should be able to help you out with what you're doing, but there's a slight problem with that."

"Yeah, I can't leave my ship."

"Don't worry, we can get that fixed in a jiffy. Give me ooooone minute."

She disappeared from my screen. I heard her making little noises, as if she were lifting heavy equipment. Odd, I've never seen an AI behave like that before. True to her word it only took her about one minute. The dock my ship landed in lit up with life it hadn't seen in more than a thousand years. The walls and floor had a strange white sheen to them, and a few of the lights on the tall ceiling were flickering or just didn't work anymore. There were several exits out of the dock. I kept them all in mind.

The AI promptly reappeared on the screen, a huge smile on her face. "Ugh, look at me. I'm so stupid forgetting to introduce myself properly. My name is *Hyun-ae. It's nice to meet you Kyle. While fresh air is being pumped through the vents I guess we can sit here and talk for a few minutes."

"Right. How long have you been stuck here?"

"Well I kind of stopped paying attention after a while, but now that I look it's been a little more than two-thousand years. Most of that I spent dormant."

"I couldn't imagine pacing in a room for two-thousand years. Are you gonna be alright?"

"Yeah... I'll be fine. It's just that I'm a little wracked by all this. You literally have no idea how happy I am to see you. I could kiss you."

I laughed, "Slow down, I don't do kisses on first dates."

Her face went red and she sighed, "I didn't mean it like that, but who knows what I would do if I could have physical contact too. I have so many questions, but you do too, so it's best to get you out of that little ship. By the way, totally amazing, we're way far away from Earth. How did you get out here in that?"

"Technology has come a long way since the pre-colonial days."

"Alright, tell me more later. It should be safe for you to step out onto the Mugunghwa now. You can go ahead and leave your computer there, I activated a few key dormant terminals that we can use."

I nodded and stood from my chair, closing the laptop and making my way to the small pressurized door of my ship. "Computer, open the door."

With a loud clang, the doors mechanical bits flew apart, and the door itself slid open to reveal the stark white of Mugunghwa's docking bay.

"Hello~!"

It was *Hyun-ae, her voice now came from the PA speakers on the ship.

"Now," she said, "If you'll leave through the west door we can both get some answers."

This was going to be an interesting job.


	2. Chapter 2

Author's note for this and future chapters: I came up with the holo system to avoid plagiarising Christine Love's work and to add my own twist to the story. However, there are some documents in the games that are narratively impossible, or just too difficult, to convert to a recording. These documents are kept intact, written as they are in the games. I do not own them and never will, it is simply that I cannot avoid using them to keep the narrative intact, just like I cannot avoid using the characters, since this is Fanfiction. Thank you.

**Chapter** **2:** **Log** **Buddies**

I had to hand it to the old-school UKSPA, they really knew how to make a ship.

As I walked along the corridor leading to God knows where, the bright whites gave way to comfortable greys. There were various doors we passed, some of them lead to small office-like rooms. Others gave way to what seemed to be entire housing complexes. Some places were decorated with a distinct Korean taste. It was bizarre to see traditional Korean housing mixed in with the more modern metal walls of the ship, as well as the random terminals here and there.

*Hyun-ae absolutely refused to stop talking through the PA system.

I couldn't blame the girl, she hadn't seen another living person for a long time. It was due to this that I decided to let her get it out of her system.

"The Mugunghwa has eleven decks. The first five decks are the administrative area, where most of the work was done, including farming, security, maintenance, all that good stuff. The next five decks, the first of which we are on, were the living quarters, housing, market, and shopping areas. It also includes the bridge. The last deck of the ship contains the nuclear reactor and other necessary power generation units, as well as all the fancy stuff that keeps the ship running. I have no idea how it all works, though. When people on the ship died they were given a traditional Korean funeral with one major difference."

"I assume they jettisoned the caskets out into space," I said.

"Right. There was no accommodation on the ship for a full on burial."

"So where am I headed?"

"Take another left up there. You're headed towards the security center, which is pretty much the Mugunghwa's black box. Everything you need will be there, and I'll help you get through it all. There's a lot of stuff. Personal diaries, letters, holo recordings, and dossiers on the families of the ship."

"Sounds like there was a lot of spying going on."

"It was the security chief's job to spy on people. Even if you're born on a ship people can get pretty cabin crazy. I can vouch for that."

"But you're an AI."

"Uh... I mean, I gained self awareness on another ship. Not the Mugunghwa, but still."

"Since we're heading to the security center I might want to call up *Mute and have a talk with her too."

"Oh you don't need to do that. I can give you everything you need, then when you've got the files you can just download both of us and we can all leave."

"Why don't you want me talking to her?"

"It's not that I don't. It's just that the power left on the ship isn't enough to sustain both of us at the same time, and there's no reason to waste time switching us out when you can just get the logs and go. We can talk to *Mute on the way back to Earth... you _are_ going back to Earth, right?"

"That's the plan."

I thought I heard her let out a sigh of relief, but decided to ignore it. She probably had enough of ships for a while.

Once again, I couldn't blame her.

I decided to keep her talking while I was still on the way to the security area. "You said something about noble families."

"There were a lot of people living on this ship." For some reason, when she said that, she sounded melancholy. "There were two major families, the Kims were the biggest one, but the Smiths were more important at the beginning. They kind of lost juice coming off the starting line."

"There weren't just Koreans on the ship?"

"I wouldn't know. Judging by the name there was probably some mixed blood in there somewhere. I don't know much about the Smiths, but there's plenty of info on them in the logs."

"Kind of strange that you wouldn't know much about them, being the ship record keeper and all."

"Oh, there it is, there's the security office!"

My feet stopped, and sure enough, at the end of this hallway was a large set of metal doors. There was a red sign on the right side of the door, 'Security Only'. The doors automatically parted as I approached them, and the security room lit up much as the dock had. "Are you sure there's enough power left on the ship to be running all this stuff?"

"I wouldn't be allowing it to run if there wasn't."

I decided to let her handle the complicated stuff while I just worried about getting the job done. The security office was aptly named. At the end opposite the door there was a huge console with tons of monitors above it. A few of them managed to boot back up, but the others were still black. To my left was a row of file cabinets along the wall. I could only assume that's where the dossiers were kept. To my right was a chair with a helmet-like contraption attached to it. "What the hell is that thing?"

"That's where you can check the holo-logs."

Her voice was no longer coming from the PA. I didn't have to look far for her. There was a small screen above the console that had just turned on. "This ship had a holo recorder?"

"This ship had lots of holo recorders. Honestly the whole thing was a bit invasive, but when you're trusting colonization to a concentrated population you can never be too careful. There were some places they couldn't be, like private bedrooms and bathrooms, bot a lot of what happened on this ship is all kept here. Every colony ship was included with a similar surveillance system in case something like this happened."

"You said a lot of what happened, not all... why is that?"

"What's the date?"

"July 25th, 4360."

"Something happened here, I don't know what, but whatever it was reset the date to zero after the ship had gone through several generations."

"You've gotta be kidding me. What the hell happened on this ship?"

"I just told you. I don't know. I wasn't activated until after whatever happened, but I can tell you that what came after that only lasted for roughly three-hundred and twenty years. Do you want to get started with the logs now? There's a lot to go through."

"Alright, so what first?"

She pointed to her left, towards the chair behind me. I sighed, "You sure that antique still works?"

"Positive," she said with a grin.

I reluctantly made my way towards the chair and sat down. There wasn't anything scary attached to the helmet that was supposed to go on my head, so I decided that it would be safe and tucked my noggin under it. "Okay," said *Hyun-ae softly. "You might feel some disorientation, please try not to throw up when you come out of it."

"Jesus, is it really that bad?"

"We're about to find out."

I heard something click, and then everything went black. For a moment it felt like I was falling, and then my feet were on the ground. I was in what appeared to be completely empty space. Everything around me was white. If it weren't for my feet being on some sort of surface I wouldn't be able to tell up from down. "Welcome to the Mugunghwa's holo record system."

I looked towards *Hyun-ae's voice, and it was as if she suddenly popped out from the screen. She stood in front of me, a coy little smile on her face. I smirked and shook my head, "This is about the same as today's holo software, just really old hardware." I held out my hand for her.

She raised an eyebrow, then, as if realizing what I was trying to do, brought her hand up to mine. It passed through me as if she were a ghost. "Let me guess," she said, "AIs can touch humans in places like this on Earth."

"That would be the jist of it." I dropped my hand, reminding myself to not try to touch her when in the Mugunghwa's holo space.

"You are so showing me all this."

"You can go in by yourself, with the way you were talking earlier it sounded like you wanted to jump my bones or something. Then again, I'm the first person you've seen in an abnormally long time."

Just as it had before, her face went red. This time she pouted, "Excuse me for being excited."

"Are we gonna get to these logs any time soon?"

"If you wanna get rid of me just tell me to go away, it'll save you time."

My jaw dropped. This chick was something else. I didn't even know what to say to her sudden change in attitude.

Then the flood gates opened and she started giggling. "I'm just messing with you. Alright, I suppose we should start with the easy stuff." She clapped her hands, which summoned what appeared to be a small holographic screen in front of her. I walked to her side to get a look at it for myself. Various folders and files were what greeted me. After a moment I realized that she wasn't doing anything, and looked away from the screen to make sure she was alright. Her hands were wrung together, her gaze was planted firmly towards the ground, her lips were pursed, and her face was beet red.

"You okay?"

"Huh? Oh yeah, I'm fine." Her reply sounded a bit strung out, and she made it a point to take a small side step away from me. "Anyways." She brought a finger gently through the screen and touched a few folders. After a while she smiled, "Ah ha, found you. I want you to get a handle on the Smiths."

"Sounds like as good a place to start as any."

When she touched a file to open it, everything went black as it had when I first entered the machine. Then, as if it were being built from Legos, an environment started to form around the two of us. The metal lined hallway of the ship formed about ten feet to our left. I couldn't help but stare at it until it was blocked off by a wall. Then a room started to form around us bit by bit. Eventually we were in one of the many rooms of the Mugunghwa, but this was different from what I had been walking past. There were people here, most were kneeling, some looked like they were crying. In front of them was what appeared to be a shrine with various offerings placed on it, as well as a small photo and many burning incense sticks.

All present were formally dressed in black.

"What is this?"

"This is the funeral of an influential Smith family member, Sang-jung. It took place on September 17th, year 315, and ended on the 19th. This is the second day."

"Influential meaning..."

"High in blood, thick in head. The grumpy looking guy in the corner there is Smith Kyung-sam. He really didn't want to be here. I doubt you're interested in watching people cry and mourn for an hour, so let's skip ahead to the interesting bits."

Suddenly, we were out in the hallway, and the grumpy guy Kyung-sam was there. It looked like he was taking his frustrations out on some poor sod who was just there for a funeral. Probably a friend of his, or at least an aquaintance.

Before I could ask *Hyun-ae had already hit the equivalent of a play button.

Kyung-sam exploded, given new life after hundreds of years. "Where the hell is Sang-kyu? While he gallivants about doing who-knows-what his brother is to be thrown out the airlock. Even that courtesan loving Sang-min showed up, the least he could do is 'grace' us with his presence."

The guy he was with took it in stride, I'll give him that. "Please, calm down, there are still people mourning."

At that, Kyung-sam seemed to snap completely. "Calm? Calm?! Sang-jung drinks himself to death, dishonors his family, one brother doesn't even bother to show for the proceedings, and you expect me to remain calm?! At this rate the family line is going to die out, you have my word on that."

Whoever his aquaintance was, he was starting to get a bit pissed off too. "I expect you to bite your tongue, if not for your own sake, then the sake of your family. Considering that little outburst you just had it might be too late. One person screwing up does not put an entire family in dire straits, and being this heckled about it will only serve as an opening for people to ask too many questions. Sang-jung died of natural causes, that is the party line. If you stick to it everything will be fine."

"Jesus Christ," I muttered, "They're not even mourning him, they're just worried about their own skin."

"It is pretty bad, isn't it?" *Hyun-ae spoke softly, taking a place at my side. "This happened all the time. Everything was about some fake honor... if it wasn't about politics."

She sounded bitter. I thought about asking her about her experiences on the ship, but that would be shown to me through the logs. She was already telling me. So I let her continue. "Anything else like this on the Smiths?"

"There are a few things."

She opened her screen, and with a few more clicks everything melted away. "September 23rd, four days after the funeral."

The room we were in now appeared to be a lot less stuffy. There was a lady sitting on a small couch, and standing in front of her was the grumpy guy from the funeral. "Am I gonna be seeing a lot of this guy?"

*Hyun-ae laughed, "Only as much as you have to. The small stuff matters. The pretty lady on the couch is Oh So-Jin, the wife of Sang-kyu. I don't know as much about the women as I do the men. Most of what I know comes from holo recordings and the journals of the few women who knew how to write."

"That sounds like an uncomfortable way to live."

"Anyways, here we go."

"... and then, when he finally does show up he's in the wrong garb, can you imagine that?!" Kyung-sam was shouting again, this time at Oh So-Jin, who looked like she was biting her tongue something fierce. "I'm tired of this, and someone needs to take responsibility, especially for Sang-jung's death!"

Oh So-Jin opened her mouth to speak, but before she could the door to the room slid open. Another woman entered, this one looked quite a bit older than Oh So-Jin. "What is going on here?"

Kyung-sam turned to the older woman with a smile, "I was just giving a message to Oh So-Jin, since Sang-kyu himself isn't here to receive it. His behavior is disgraceful and should not be tolerated! Do you have any idea how ashamed I am to be a Smith right now? I look like a fool!"

"Yes, you do," said the older woman, "And if you want to stop looking like a fool you will lower your voice. I heard you at the funeral screaming about Sang-jung and Sang-kyu, everyone did."

Kyung-sam fell silent.

The older woman's gaze narrowed, "Please leave... now."

And Kyung-sam left.

The log ended, giving way to the same white background we had been in before.

*Hyun-ae began to speak. "Kyung-sam continued for seven years to try and gather the shattering remnants of the Smith family, but Sang-min, the high magistrate, was shuffled out by the emperor of the ship. Kyung-sam put the responsibility of rebuilding the family on his son's shoulders, but that was doomed to fail."

"Why?"

"..."

I turned to her, and to my surprise she looked like she was about to cry. "*Hyun-ae... what happened on this ship?"

"I... I..." she shook her head, trying to calm herself, "We should take a break for now, don't you think? At least from the holo logs."

"Alright."

I heard another click, and my eyes opened. Instead of the shiny metallic walls of the old Mugunghwa, the dead grey of a decaying security room greeted me. I stood from the seat and let out a sigh, looking over myself to make sure everything was still in place. *Hyun-ae was right about one thing, the ride came with some nausea, but considering how often I had been in holo interfaces before it was nothing I couldn't deal with. The new ones didn't feel quite as rough, but they still took some getting used to. As I stretched my back out *Hyun-ae popped up on one of the security monitors. "Are you alright? Do you need to lie down?"

I held up a hand, "I'll be fine. You said there were letters?"

"Yeah, I did. One second." After a moment of her tinkering, another monitor managed to flicker to life. A screen that looked much like the one she had opened in the holo system popped up. "There should be a mouse wheel you can use. You can forget typing anything, all the characters on the keyboard are Korean. Rest assured with text documents though, your personal translator is on the job."

"Thanks."

After navigating the screen for a bit, the name of a particular folder caught my eye.

'PERSONAL FOLDER- NO TOUCHING'

Sounded like whoever made that had some interesting character traits. I decided to click on it out of curiosity, and there was one visible file in the folder.

'Dear Smith- User, *Mute'

"*Mute, huh?"

I heard *Hyun-ae let out a squeak, "*Mute, where?"

I couldn't help but laugh. Did these two have an issue with each other or something? "Relax, it's just a letter of hers I found addressed to one of the Smiths."

"Oh. Well open it then. Let's check it out."

"You seem like you're having way too much fun with this. I'm nervous about taking you back with me. I won't end up in a gossip column, will I?"

She smiled, "That depends on what you spend your days doing."

"Please, I'm the most boring person on Earth. You won't find anything worth snooping on me for."

She turned away, her cheeks going red. Again with the blushing. "That's a matter of opinion," she muttered.

"_Anyways_, before this gets awkward, let's see what your friend had to say."

-Message sent on 4/30, 321-

'Smith Kyung-sam,

I don't know why you insist on putting this all in writing when we could just have a perfectly good conversation. Like, don't get me wrong, I'm happy to do it- whatever you want, you're the man. I just think it's a little weird. I don't really get it.

Anyway, as to your question, you're spot on about the Pale Bride being the focus of attention in the royal family. Not for the reasons you wanted, though. I don't know where you heard those rumors, but they are so, so not true.

That girl, a trouble maker? No way, I don't see it. Like, it's not even convincing as a rumor. That girl is the most polite, most obedient person I've ever seen in my entire life. The idea of her fighting with her husband is completely unimaginable. In over a month I've never so much as heard her raise her voice in disagreement. She's quiet, courteous, and does everything she's told without even the slightest hesitation.

I'm sorry, but there's just no way you could possibly expect any drama here. This is as undramatic a situation as it gets, especially compared to the situation with your cousin and the courtesan. Don't get me wrong, she bugs the hell out of me. The girl is just too perfect. She's young, she's beautiful, she's demure to the point where I don't even think she has her own personality. However, she gets along perfectly with the queen, while commanding all the attention of the Emperor. Like, can you blame him, though?

Sorry, but there's no way he's ever going to be anything but extremely grateful to the Kim family for giving her over.

Respectfully,

*Mute'

"Alright, hang on a second!"

My eyes widened at *Hyun-ae's outburst, "What, what's wrong?"

"This has nothing to do with the families on the ship, we should probably look somewhere else."

"Whoa, wait a second. Are you trying to pull a fast one on me? This has everything to do with the families on the ship. Apparently the Kim's gave the emperor some girl to be his wife that ended up being super important. The guy had two wives, one the queen, this other chick the Pale Bride or whatever she was called. Is that how the Kims ended up getting more power than the Smiths?"

"It... might have had something to do with that."

"Besides, this was written by *Mute. Wasn't she the ship's security AI? It was her job to keep this place safe. She was the one in charge of this office, and she had access to all this information. Wouldn't it follow, then, that anything written by her should probably be marked as important? Instead of ignoring files like this I'd say we need more of them."

*Hyun-ae fell silent for a moment, then took a deep breath, "Okay. Yeah, you're right of course. I'm sorry."

"Listen. I don't know what you're trying to hide from me, and honestly, I don't really care." She flinched at that and I sighed, "I didn't mean it that way. What I'm saying is that I came here to do a job, and you told me you would help me. In fact, I'm pretty sure I won't be able to finish this job without your help since I don't have the Root password, and I'm going to need it to perform a mass download of all the ship's archives including the two AIs that are on board. Now, it's probably getting late and you seem pretty shaken up, so let's call it quits for the day."

"Alright."

"Does the ship still have running water anywhere, or will I have to wipe myself down like I have been for the last three days?"

She laughed lightly at that, and I was glad to see her mood brighten a little bit. "I'll see if I can get something worked out for you. There might be some soaps in stasis, but we'll worry about getting the water going first."

"Alright, you're turn to ask questions to me. We can talk while I'm walking."

Oh man did that ever open the floodgates.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3: Ghosts**

If there was one thing I learned about *Hyun-ae the first day I spent on the Mugunghwa it was that she was absolutely relentless. Instead of talking to someone who was curious about the ways of the world, it felt more like I was being interrogated. When I got done cleaning myself up a little she lead me to one of the many rooms on the ship. It was a small place, and she said something about it being an unused peasant block, but I wasn't paying much attention at the time. The bed was unused, and there were no sheets or anything, but after wiping some dust off it I decided that anything was better than sleeping in the pilot's seat of Thalium's ship. It looked comfortable, but in reality it was really stiff.

I sat down on the bed and let out a sigh. It had been a long day, and I really needed to relax.

"Sorry about this," said *Hyun-ae over the PA. "It's safer to stay in an unused room. Who knows what kind of mites are lurking in other places. That and there's a lot of skeletons around."

I balked at the thought of tripping over a skeleton, but so far I hadn't seen any. Strange, that.

She continued, "There's not even a monitor in here, so I guess you'll just have to put up with my voice. Can I ask you more questions? I've got a lot."

I nodded absent-mindedly and laid on the bed, putting my hands behind my head. "Shoot."

"What's Earth like?"

I sighed, "That's a pretty broad question. You'll have to be more specific than that."

"Okay... um, do women have jobs."

"They generally avoid the more physically demanding fields, but yes they have jobs. I take it that wasn't allowed on the Mugunghwa?"

"No, it wasn't. Okay then, have you always done jobs like this?"

"No, this is an exception."

"What do you normally do?"

"A few years ago I worked with AI constructs, like you."

"So you know how I work."

"Basically, yeah."

"... What happened a few years ago?"

I tossed it around in my head for a minute, considering whether or not I should tell her. Eventually I remembered that trust is a two way street. I'd just finished giving her a lecture on hiding things from me, and it wouldn't be fair to start omitting facts from my own story. "My wife died."

"Who was she?"

"Her name was *Cami. She was an AI."

"Is that... unusual?"

"In my opinion? No. Different people tend to have different opinions. Even after the Construct Rights Act there was still a stigma surrounding relationships between humans and AIs. When I started getting interested in *Cami I decided to do some research. The first recorded case of Artificial Constructs was back in the nineteen-eighties, when the internet was just getting started. Somehow, written programs were gaining intelligence, hell, even consciences all on their own. Eventually this process was streamlined, but there had to be laws implemented. People couldn't just go around writing AIs as they pleased. It's basically giving birth to a digitized human. They won't bleed, but they feel, they do good and evil things, just like us."

"I see." Once again, her voice had a hushed tone in it, almost as if she were remembering something terrible.

In time I would learn what she was so reluctant to tell me, but for now it was enough to have her company. Even though I had just met her, space was a lonely place.

Loneliness could drive people mad.

"Goodnight, Kyle."

_**-Day 4-**_

When I dreamt it was usually hard to remember what exactly I was doing in my own head upon waking up. That morning, though? That morning I remembered very vividly. I remembered seeing my old apartment complex. I remembered putting the key in my door and swinging it open. I remembered hanging my coat up and shivering from the leftover winter air I had brought in. "We're making some real breakthroughs," I said as I shut the door behind myself.

It was a day like any other.

At least until I realized that there was no response to what I had said.

Only silence.

"...iggs."

"Mr. Briggs."

It took me a minute to realize I was still on the Mugunghwa. It was mostly a relief when I did.

"Good morning," said *Hyun-ae through the PA, "Would you like your eggs scrambled or sunny side up?"

I laughed, "Yeah sure, if you had the hands to cook it. I'll get some astronaut breakfast from my ship and we'll head to the security room."

"Jeez, you're just all work and no play, aren't you?"

"Dunno about you, but I wanna leave this place as soon as I can." I swung my feet over the edge of the bed and stood up with a yawn.

"Well, I suppose it can be forgiven, then. You remember how to get to the security room?"

"Yep, I'll be fine."

"Ugh, too bad I can't join you for breakfast. Eggs sound really good right now."

"How would you know what eggs taste like?"

"Would you get mad at me if I told you you'll find out eventually?"

"... No. Thanks for not hiding anything, I was starting to worry what I said went in one ear and out the other."

"You're the first person I've seen in hundreds of years. I need to listen to you. It... it makes me feel better."

It was hard not to feel pity for her, it really was.

The security room was just as we left it, reflecting the fact that the Mugunghwa was long abandoned. It was easy to forget where I was when I was with *Hyun-ae. "So where are we going to start today?" I asked.

*Hyun-ae's face popped up on the same security screen it was on the day before, still with that smile, "Same place as yesterday."

With a bit of reluctance I sat in the chair and put the helmet on my head. Much the same as before, the darkness and the falling feeling I had returned, as well as the white space with no edges. This time *Hyun-ae greeted me right when I entered the space, waving and smiling. "Let's get started," she said proudly, clapping her hands to open the holo screen. With a few flicks of her wrist, the world around us began to build. "October 30th, 316, Kim Yeong-Seok's new residence. Yeong-seok was adopted into the main branch of the Kim family on October 29th in order to allow more room for growth in the Kim family. It was a pretty bold move for the Kim family, who were next to worthless in the Emperor's eyes."

Again I found myself in one of the ship's many rooms. This one was lightly decorated. It was easy to tell that whoever lived here was not very wealthy. However, when the area fully formed there were two people there. One of them was a proud looking middle aged man, and the other was a young buck, both were dressed to a tee in extravagant formal wear, and the way they carried themselves screamed that they had money.

"The guy your age is Yeong-seok, and the older one is his new father, Kim Jung-su. The adoption was triggered by the son of the main branch dying, as well as Yeong-seok's father. Heirs were often objectified and put into roles that they couldn't refuse. Everybody was disposable income on this ship."

I didn't say it was horrible. I didn't have to, it was a given. People put into roles they couldn't back out of, no freedom of choice. It seemed like men had command over women, but that was simply an illusory freedom when they were the ones working their asses off to support this corrupt society. "How did people live like this?"

"Life is important," she said softly. "Even if life is horrible, people are afraid of dying."

With that final word the events in front of us began to play out.

"I'd like to personally welcome you to the main branch of the Kim family," said the father.

Jung-su looked like he carried himself with an unspoken dignity. It reminded me of my own father, but there was something off about it. It looked stiff, like he was doing it out of obligation rather than any actual pride or masculinity.

"This is strange," I muttered, "Both parents should be here."

"Thank you," said Yeong-seok.

It was a simple little clip, but it got the point across. *Hyun-ae sighed and opened her window again, "I suppose I can give you more about Yeong-seok, but it'll probably just make you angry considering the way it is back on Earth. Yeong-seok was an ambitious pup, and I can't really blame him for that. His family was in a lump, and considering how important family was on the Mugunghwa I would compare what he was feeling to a feeling personal danger."

The room melted away, and was replaced with another, smaller one. This room held a bookshelf, and a computer desk in the corner. At the desk sat Yeong-seok, and peeking over his shoulder was a girl who appeared to be about fifteen years old. With another motion from *Hyun-ae, the log began to play.

The girl leaned further over his shoulder, her eyes narrowing and her tongue sticking out the side of her mouth. It was actually kind of cute.

"Something wrong?" asked Yeong-seok.

"I'm not sure, but... do you mind if I take a look?"

After what seemed to be a moment of careful consideration, Yeong-seok nodded and stood from the chair. "You have my permission."

I think I felt my right eyebrow twitch a little at that.

The girl sat down in the chair previously occupied by Yeong-seok. On the screen were long charts with numbers. At a closer look they appeared to be keeping track of the money garnered from farming. "This isn't right," said the girl, "Corn is cycled out at a yearly rate so as not to harm the soil on the ship. It's on its out cycle, so it should be slightly more expensive because demand is higher."

"Are you sure about this?" asked Yeong-seok.

"Positive. I wouldn't have spoken otherwise."

"I'll tell the magistrate that the farmer is skimming off the top. Thank you for that. Would you mind helping me with matters like this in the future?"

"Not at all," she said with a smile.

The log paused at that, and when I turned to *Hyun-ae she had a frown on her face, "See anything wrong with that picture?"

I sighed and shook my head, "Let me guess, that girl was his wife."

"You won the prize Kyle."

"Not to mention she needed to ask permission. If she saw something wrong she should have just told him."

"Finally! Someone who agrees with me. It was actually weirdly common for women to learn how to read on the ship by looking over their husband's shoulders. The wife here is making a big deal out of it, but I guess that can be expected of a teenage girl. Anyways, I'll show you the next log I have on Yeong-seok."

The next setting was an open market. It felt like it was in a center part of one of the ship's decks. Every few feet there was a stall either selling food or some extravagant decorative trinkets. The signs were colorful and the place was absolutely crowded. "It's wonderful, isn't it?" asked *Hyun-ae, a smile on her face as she walked towards me. "So many people, so much to do."

"I'm surprised a place like this was allowed to exist."

*Hyun-ae sighed and kicked the ground with her foot, "It was more tolerated than anything else. People need to make money somehow, even in an oppressive society." With that final word she pointed behind me, a bit to the left. I turned and saw two familiar faces at a table in a local restaurant, as well as a new one. Yeong-seok sat with his wife, and across from them was a man of tall stature. They were all smiling and clearly enjoying the meal. "I'd like to pass my position on to you," said the man.

Yeong-seok's eyes widened, "What?"

The man held up his hand, "As of now it's just a possibility of course, but soon it will be time for me to be High Magistrate. I'd like the position to be taken by someone with a good head on their shoulders, and you seem the type."

I leaned towards *Hyun-ae, "Who's that?"

"He's Magistrate Park. Pretty much the right hand of the emperor on this ship. This took place on October 18th 321, a little more than two years after Yeong-seok married his wife."

"Seems like he moved up quick."

"Yeah... he did," she said, her gaze falling as she frowned.

In another moment, this scene was replaced with another. "A year later, 322," said *Hyun-ae."

The place we were in now was a small living room. Yeong-seok's wife sat formally on the floor with a bottle of wine next to her, and the man himself was pacing with a glass in his hand.

I noted that his wife was starting to look a little more his age.

Yeong-seok scoffed to himself, "I just wish they'd give me more credit. I exposed all that cutting and thuggery that was going on. Everyone is saying it's because of the Pale Bride that I got my position, but I earned it."

His wife sighed and shook her head, "I know. We both know that." She leaned forward when he handed her a wine glass and brought forward the bottle at her side, pouring him another. "If I were you," she said with a smile, "I would enjoy what I'd earned."

Yeong-seok raised an eyebrow at her, as if what she had just said was unusual. Then, his expression turned into a full on grin, "You know what? You're right. You are completely right." Yeong-seok downed his last glass of wine, then leaned down to kiss her on the lips. "Far sweeter than any wine," he said softly.

The log paused, and when I looked at *Hyun-ae she was standing there with clenched fists, and it looked like she was trying really hard not to think about something. "You okay?" I asked.

"Yeah... yeah, I just need a minute." She took a deep breath and shook her head, turning to me, "Anyways, as you can see, it all comes back to the Pale Bride."

"What was up with her?"

"She was the emperor's trophy wife, to put it gently."

"Hmm. You wanna take a break?"

She nodded, "Okay. One second while I shut down the holo system."

With a clap of her hands everything went black, at least until I opened my eyes. I stood from the chair and stretched, just as I had the day before. I walked to the security monitor and leaned on it. "I've got an idea," I said.

She leaned towards the screen, adjusting her glasses, "What is it?"

"Can you show me the marketplace? Or at least what's left of it."

*Hyun-ae led me down twisting white and grey corridors of the deck above our headquarters. I was starting to see those skeletons I had missed before. Some were laid out in the halls, decaying garbs still draped over them, others I caught a glimpse of in the rooms we passed. All had one thing in common. None of them had been sitting in a desk when they died, or doing some sort of other activity. "It wasn't sudden," I muttered as I made my way down another hall.

"What was that?"

"Everyone dying. It didn't just happen suddenly. It was slow... painful."

*Hyun-ae fell silent.

I could only presume this meant she knew something about what happened here.

For some reason I was starting to wish she would start lying to me again.

I decided to change the subject.

"Why was the deck we were on pretty much empty?"

"From what I can tell... the birth rates on this ship weren't exactly what one would call stellar. Considering how base society was, no one ever really figured out what was causing the issue. Not that it mattered in the end, anyways."

The conversation died, at least until a few minutes later when the corridor opened into a large wide space. The bustling sounds of busy people were completely gone. The remnants of market stalls lay strewn about in different places, their color dulling with the time they had spent here. It looked like if I tried to touch something it would crumble in my hands. The most jarring thing was the smell, and even more skeletons. I brought a hand to my nose and frowned. It was hard to imagine what had happened, but judging from the fact that everyone died slowly and the oxygen wasn't on when I got here...

It was easy to get the jist of things.

I sat down cross-legged on the floor at the entrance of the market place. I looked outward, trying to see all the vendors, the people shopping. I looked at what was left of the restaurant Yeong-seok and his wife ate at with Park. I tried to imagine them sitting there, enjoying a meal and chatting about business.

I really tried.

All I saw, however, were ghosts.

"Hey, *Hyun-ae?"

"What is it?"

"Nothing... I was just making sure you were still here. I'm glad."

"... Me too."


End file.
